Tripod

Twig is a rather innovative charging cable for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that looks to solve your cable clutter problem. We all use the Apple supplied cable for charging and syncing our devices and the length of it probably means that it gets tangled up in your bag and it all becomes a bit messy. The Twig looks to solve that problem as well as offering a few extra features too.

When I was asked to compile a list of my most used accessories of 2011, I looked around and discovered -- I don't use that many accessories. That made my list much easier to compile. So here is a list of the accessories that I actually do use.

The Capta mount is an all in one stand, cable management and tripod mount designed for the iPhone and other smartphones. It has just received Kickstarter funding with double the pledges required and there are still seven days to go.

Designed by two freelance designers, Bojan Smiljanic and Adewale Adelusi-Adeluyi they set about originally creating a simple and elegant tripod mount. That has now expanded and the Capta can be used for many more things. The Capta is made from airplane grade aluminium and has a adhesive pad that can hold an iPhone securely. There is also a groove for cable management as well as threaded hole for a tripod attachment.

A couple of New Yorkers have introduced a very slim and elegant solution for iPhone 4 photographers with their invention of the Glif tripod mount and stand. Glif is an iPhone 4 accessory that works as both a standard tripod mount and kickstand. The minds behind Glif put together a promo video that showcases using the Glif to participate in activities such as hands-free FaceTiming, watching videos, making movies, and using your iPhone as an alarm clock.

The idea for the Glif was first formed when we realized the iPhone 4 is literally the best camera we've ever owned. With the addition of HD video recording and High Dynamic Range photography, it's clear Apple is positioning the iPhone as a very high quality portable camera. But because of its small form factor (and Apple's minimalist design approach) it will never contain a threaded nut for attaching a tripod - standard on almost all photo and video cameras. Solutions for mounting an iPhone to a tripod exist (DIY or otherwise) but they are typically bulky and cumbersome. Our goal was to create something small, simple, and elegant.

And something small, simple, and elegant they did!

Not only did Tom and Dave invent a fantastic accessory, but they have a story that is just as amazing. After designing the Glif, they put it up on Kickstarter in an effort to raise the $10,000 needed to put the Glif into production. The design was so popular, they received almost $140,000 in pledges! Incredible. The Glif is now in full scale production and available to order for $20.

This accessory truly is amazing with such a great story and I can't wait to get my hands on one.